Dwight Jones, Colorados new education commissioner, saysno magical program will fix the states schools. But he knowshe wants testing programs that yield results faster, so that better-paid, better-trained teachers can act on them quickly.

Fountain – Dwight Jones has a strong track record as a successful, charismatic superintendent of a small district, but those hoping the state’s new education commissioner will lead Colorado toward sweeping, statewide education reform will have to wait.

“There is no magical program out there,” Jones said. “For me to blindly come in and say there is would be irresponsible.

“Educational change for the sake of change is not something I support.”

What he does support is frequent and rigorous testing of the state’s students and funneling money to better pay and train teachers who can correct the deficiencies.

Jones said he can’t give blanket approval but heartily endorses many of the approaches touted in “Tough Choices or Tough Times,” a report by the National Center on Education and the Economy that’s attracted the attention of legislative leaders interested in using it as a guide here.

Among other things, the report calls for allowing students who want to attend community or technical colleges to test out of high school by passing a statewide board exam after 10th grade. Savings from students heading to technical schools would be used to make sure all 3- and 4-year-olds can go to preschool.

Those ideas are worth exploring, Jones said, and he noted he is especially interested in funding for early education, but he said he is not ready to endorse them.

Jones also strongly supports a key component of the status quo: local control of education programs.

“I have to believe locals know and will do what’s best for their kids,” he said.

Jones’ steep ascent to the post of the state’s education commissioner last week drew praise from fellow educators and politicians who say they hope things will improve under his leadership.

Says Jones: “Hope is not a strategy. We don’t have a lot of time to sit around and hug.”

The 44-year-old recent superintendent of the 6,100-student Fountain-Fort Carson School District is credited with closing achievement gaps and turning around standardized test scores in that racially diverse, economically` challenged district – a largely transient population of children of military personnel.

About six years ago, as Jones began work as assistant superintendent, no schools were rated high to excellent. Five of 10 now have that distinction and that’s about to change to seven of 10, Jones said.

The achievement gap between races, as measured by the numbers of students rated proficient by CSAP tests, narrowed or disappeared at several of Jones’ schools. Those that still have racial gaps of 12 percentage points or more nevertheless outperform the states average, which is closer to 30 percentage points.

Jones now needs to translate that success statewide.

“There is a growing sense of urgency that the whole system is on the verge of collapse … and you can’t fix it by tinkering with it or nibbling around the edges,” said Alan Gottlieb with the private Piton Foundation, a developer of education programs. “We have to rethink the way we do it.”

A “kid by kid” approach

Jones said there is no statewide panacea for what ails education. He believes education is improved “kid by kid” – by frequently assessing a student’s capabilities and then tailoring instruction.

Teacher must be well trained to nimbly adjust instruction, which is why teacher pay and development is where resources must be concentrated.

“I will go to the grave saying instruction matters most,” he said.

He said implementing a system of student data that meaningfully and easily distills test results would be costly, perhaps prohibitively so.

“That’s a big job to get that right,” he said. “(But) we have the technology. If Fed Ex can track packages around the world and tell you, at a moment’s notice, where it’s at, the education system can do the same thing.”

Jones said he believes local educators must focus on a few “leverage points,” problem areas in their own schools that most need improvement.

“I believe assessment is part of education,” he said. But assessment without changing instruction, he said, is pointless.

“You can’t fatten a pig just by weighing it,” he said, laughing about the adage he was raised with on the family farm in western Kansas.

Jones announced immediately after his selection May 25 that he will visit every school district in the state.

“I’m not coming into the Department of Education with all the answers,” he said. “I think there a lot of folks who have been left out of the conversation for a long time. ”

Jones said that includes business leaders unhappy with the quality of the workforce and university officials dealing with high school graduates not really ready for college.

Jones’ travels in his $205,000- a-year post will bring him face to face with school superintendents who complained as a group last year that the state education department lacked leadership and failed to support local districts’ efforts to boost achievement among Colorado’s 794,000 public school students.

“I think Dwight Jones being named as the commissioner is the most important step in fixing that,” said John Hefty, executive director of the Colorado Association of School Executives. “He will listen to people in the field. ”

Setting his own goals

Jones has broad support in this honeymoon period. Gov. Bill Ritter said he recognized Jones’ talent early on in his administration and he praised the “wise” and unanimous choice of the state Board of Education.

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